District Assessments
Over the course of a school year, families receive a variety of information to give them a more complete picture of their child’s academic progress. In addition to report cards and class assignments, SFUSD uses District Assessments to help families better understand their child’s strengths and opportunities for improvement in Reading and Math. Families can use this information to partner with your child’s teacher to blend learning at school with support at home. Click on the links below to learn more about recent updates to District Assessments.
What are the District Assessments?
The Kindergarten Readiness Inventory (KRI) The KRI is administered at the beginning of Kindergarten. The KRI includes readiness measures of literacy, social-emotional learning, fine motor, and numeracy. You can your child's teacher can use this information to identify students' strengths and needs as they begin their school careers.
New in 2023-24! Star assessments are computer adaptive tests in Early Literacy, Reading and Math that are designed to provide accurate, valid and reliable data for informing standards based instruction and progress monitoring. Star assessments are administered in 20-30 minutes and will be administered to all students in grades K-8. Learn more about Star assessments at: https://www.renaissance.com/family-resources-star-assessments/and https://www.renaissance.com/products/star-assessments/.
The Reading Inventory (HS) provides information about students' reading performance during this school year. With this information, teachers monitor progress and inform instruction. This assessment is taken online in about 20-30 minutes.
What are the NEW District Star assessments?
What are Star assessments?
The Star Assessments are computer adaptive tests created by Renaissance Learning. Over the past 30 years Renaissance Learning has continuously improved upon these tests to provide a high level of measurement accuracy for teachers and staff to learn about students with reliable data.
What are computer-adaptive tests?
Star assessments are computer-adaptive tests (CATs). Computer-adaptive tests continually adjust the difficulty of each child’s test by choosing each test question based on the child’s previous response. If the child answers a question correctly, the difficulty level of the next item is increased. If the child misses a question, the difficulty level is decreased. CATs save testing time and spare your child the frustration of items that are too difficult and the boredom of items that are too easy.
How long does it take to complete a Star assessment?
Star tests are designed to be as efficient as possible. On average, students will complete the Star Math/Star Reading tests in about 20-30 or the Star Early Literacy test in 10-15 minutes. However, some students may require more time.
What are Star assessments used for?
Star Reading and Star Math assessments help determine reading and math achievement levels. Star Early Literacy assessments help educators monitor your child’s growing literacy skills and their progress to becoming independent readers. Star assessments can also be used to monitor your child’s growth throughout the year. In addition, Star can help your child’s teacher plan appropriate instruction to address the skills that your child is ready to learn.
What kind of score does my child get?
Star assessments measure proficiency using a scaled score (SS), which is based on the complexity of the questions answered correctly. The Star assessments provide a unified scaled score ranging from 0–1400 which can then be used to identify a students' achievement for the time of year when the took the test. The scale score can be used to identify if a student is scoring along the following levels of achievement for the month the child took the test: 1) Not Yet Approaching, 2)Approaching, 3)Meeting, 4)Exceeding.
How can I help my child prepare for a Star assessment?
Please communicate with your child’s teacher to learn when they will administer the Star assessments. During this time, it is important for you to encourage your child to try their best on the assessment. Since Star is a general measure of student ability in math or reading, students perform best on the assessment in the same way they perform best in school—when they have had plenty of rest, attend school regularly and have eaten.
How will I know how my child is doing?
You will receive a Star student report through ParentVue to learn how your child did on the Star tests after each testing window. It is always important to keep open communication with your child’s teacher to learn more about how your child has progressed and what skills they are working on in Reading and Math.
How can I help my child with Reading or Math?
SFUSD staff has created an At Home Resources to Support Student Learning site to provide activities you may do at home with your child to support their reading and math development. These activities are clustered by grade band and also include questions you might ask your child after the activities and learning to support reflection and discussion on what was learned.
When are the District Assessments administered?
The Kindergarten Readiness Inventory (Grade K) is administered once a year in September.
The Star Early Literacy assessment is administered in Kindergarten is administered 3 times per year in October, February and mid April to mid May.
First and Second grade students also take Star assessments 3 times per year in October, February and mid April to mid May in Reading & Math
Grade 3-8 students take Star Reading & Math twice per year in October and February.
Your child will take the Reading Inventory (Grades 9& 10) and the Math Milestone Task (in High School) twice a year, once in the Fall and once in the Spring.
When will I receive my child’s District Assessment results, and how are they used?
District Assessment reports are provided to families via ParentVue in mid-November and early March, to align with Parent/Teacher Conference weeks. These results are an important source of information for all students, families, teachers, and staff to get an accurate picture of student learning. Using these results:
- Students can reflect on their own learning and goals.
- Families can support their child at home with their goals.
- Teachers provide feedback to students and inform their future instruction.
- District staff can improve District planning and supports.
Updated Sample student reports for New Star assessments coming soon.
Families can learn more about the Reading Inventory and how to support their children at home by reading the following document:
Reading Inventory for Families
The results of these assessments are not used for admissions purposes for any SFUSD high schools. Results are used by parents and families to monitor and support students' learning.
How can I best support my child for the District Assessment administration?
Here are some ways that families can support students with the District Assessments:
Before
- Teachers may share areas of strength or need they see in your child.
- Partner with your child's teacher to leverage areas of strength in addressing areas of need at home.
During
- Each student will complete the assessment independently.
- Teachers will monitor students to address issues of technology or directions that could affect student performance.
After
- Partner with your child’s teacher about the results of the test to better understand what you can do to support your child’s learning at home.
Resources for Families
Families can reference the SFUSD Curriculum & Assessments webpage for resources to help children in their learning journey.
This page was last updated on September 7, 2023